We started the day with a nice cup of India's Original Masala Chai Tea from Vahdam Teas, a direct-to-consumer tea brand founded in 2015. Vahdam Teas is known for offering garden fresh high-quality teas and patronizing a truly ethical and fair tea trade.

Okay, enough about the company and more on today's tea.

Tea Basics

This tea came in a box. When we opened it, we were surprised that it wasn't in a resealable bag... and then we saw that it came with one. You just have to transfer it yourself. There was also a sticker with all the important details of the tea, such as month of packaging.

Name: India's Original Masala Chai Tea

Brand: Vahdam Teas

Origin: Assam, India

Flavor Profile: Slightly malty with flavor of fresh cardamoms and delicate notes of cloves and black pepper | The base tea for this signature blend is a combination of Assam Crush-to-Curl (CTC) and orthodox leaves

Caffeine Content: High

Steeping Instructions:

For a traditional chai tea with milk, mix one portion of milk with two portions of water in a saucepan. Once water is boiling, add one to two teaspoons of Masala Chai tea leaves and boil for another two to three minutes. Add sugar to taste and strain leaves out.

For black tea, use a teaspoon (about 2 grams) Masala Chai tea leaves for a cup of 200-ml water and steep for three to five minutes at 194- to 212-degree Fahrenheit (90- to 100- Celsius)

For green tea, steep for two to five minutes at the same water temperature and with the same amount of tea leaves

Dry India's Original Masala Chai Tea Leaves

The first thing you'd notice when you open the pack of India's Original Masala Chai tea is its aroma. It was so inviting. In fact, it took us a couple of minutes before we decided we've done enough sniffing of the bag. Haha!

The leaves have a strong, complex aroma. There was a bit of a nutty scent. The aroma of cinnamon and cardamom really stood out. There was also a hint of black pepper and cloves.

Steeped India's Original Masala Chai Tea

We tried making India's Original Masala Chai tea in two ways: in traditional chai with milk and without milk.

With Milk

In the first cup we made, we used two teaspoons for Masala Chai tea leaves and boiled them for three minutes. We used 4-oz of milk and 8-oz of water. The flavor for this one is too strong for us. You could really smell and taste the cinnamon and cardamom.

For the second cup, we decided to use just one teaspoon of tea leaves and boil them for two minutes. We liked this one better as the flavor is more mellow than the first one. It's also creamier, which worked out good for us.

Tip: Please don't let your chai tea sit too long, otherwise, a thin layer —called milk film— will form on top. This is common when milk is boiled and is the result of the break down (or denaturation) of protein and then its coagulation with fat in milk.

Without Milk

This is basically just black tea as the steeping preparations are the same. Without milk, the flavor of the cardamom, cinnamon, and other spices are even more pronounced. We added a packet of sugar to sweeten the taste.

Overall Experience with India's Original Masala Chai Tea

India's Original Masala Chai tea by Vahdam Teas is one of the most flavorful and complex teas we've tried. The aroma is enough to excite you as you patiently wait for your tea to boil. You would have to experiment on how much tea you should use but that's part of the experience with this tea.

Is this for you? If you like a strong, robust flavor for your tea and love spices, this tea is calling out to you.

As a final note, my dad was on point when after drinking it, he said, "This is not your everyday-kind-of-tea. This is something I'd drink to psyche myself up for a busy day or treat myself to after a hectic workweek." In short, we'd keep it for days when we need some spice in our lives. Besides, all work and no tea makes a dull boring life. :)

Want to try this tea? We got ours for $9.95 with free shipping. You can also order directly from Vahdam Teas. They offer worldwide shipping for a fee, which varies depending on the type of shipping and your location.

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